An ongoing series of articles on songs & performances of the early Grateful Dead.

December 24, 2013

Eyes of the World: A Field Guide (Guest Post)

EYES OF THE WORLD: A FIELD GUIDEGuest Post by Kell C. Mercer

“Eyes of the World,” with lyrics by Robert Hunter and music by Jerry Garcia, was first performed live by the Grateful Dead on February 9, 1973, at the Maples Pavilion at Stanford University. [1] “Eyes” was performed live by the Grateful Dead 381 times. [2] The song appears on the studio album “Wake of the Flood,” released on October 15, 1973. [3] It was the second single from the album, and was also released as a promo with mono and stereo mixes. [4] “Wake of the Flood” was recorded between August 4 and September 1, 1973. [5] The recorded performance of “Eyes” on “Wake of the Flood” includes guest Benny Velarde [6] on timbales. [7]

I. Musical Origins

Some believe that “Eyes” musically grew out of a thematic jam, known as the “Tighten Up Jam,” which was frequently played during “Dark Star” and “Dancing in the Streets” during 1969 through 1971. [8] Good examples of this jam are found in Dick’s Picks No. 2 during “Dark Star” [9] and Dick’s Picks No. 8 during “Dancing in the Streets.” [10]
The “Tighten Up Jam” comes from the song "Tighten Up," performed by Archie Bell & The Drells.
( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wro3bqi4Eb8 ) Archie Bells & The Drells hailed from Houston, Texas. Their single “Tighten Up” was written by Archie Bell and Billy Buttier a/k/a Billy Butler. “Tighten Up” reached #1 on both the Billboard R&B and pop charts in the spring of 1968. It is ranked #265 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time and is considered to be one of the earliest funk hits in music history. While the rhythm and tempo of “Tighten Up” and “Eyes of the World” are somewhat similar, the chords and melody are different. Thus, any connection to “Tighten Up” may be coincidental.
Some also note the similarity between “Eyes” and the Bob Weir-led Kingfish song “Hypnotize,” from their 1976 album Kingfish. [11] ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qnnl1VFVg3Y )

Blair Jackson asked Hunter and Garcia in 1991, “I gather ‘Eyes of the World’ was an older lyric when the Dead got around to recording it in 1973.”
Hunter: “I’m pretty sure ‘Eyes of the World’ was from Larkspur…”
Garcia: “I don’t remember writing ‘Eyes of the World,’ but I do remember that basically it wanted a samba feel, which it still sort of has. It was kind of a Brazilian thing.”
Hunter: “It has so many lyrics it needed a fast tempo to get them all in.” [12]

Garcia had also been asked about the song in 1977 by Adam Block: “Which songs feel too dated to perform any longer? For instance, when ‘Eyes of the World’ was released, it caught flak from critics for being ‘hippy-dippy.’ Hunter said he agreed, but that, after all, the lyric was five years old when you got around to using it. The song is dated, but you still do it.”
Garcia: “I’ll tell you why. That had been sitting around my desk for years. I would notice it and think, ‘That is such a nicely conceived thing, all the ideas and the way they’re linked together.’ I tried all different ways of setting it to music, none of which I liked very much. Finally I thought of a good way to do it, and it was like, it didn’t matter to me whether it was dated or not. It was an idea that was there, and whenever I did it, I knew I had to do it. It was already in my head, so it didn’t matter what the sense of it was, or whether it communicated that idea to anybody or not.” [13]

Lyrically, the last verse has a notable similarity to a verse from the American folk song “Goodnight, Irene” which was originally recorded by Huddie “Lead Belly” Ledbetter in 1933. The verse:

Sometimes I live in the country,
sometimes I live in town
Sometimes I take a great notion,
to jump into the river and drown.

Whether this is intentional or not is unknown. A portion of the same verse served as the title to a Ken Kesey novel, “Sometimes a Great Notion,” published in 1964. [15]

The chorus may also refer to a line from Blaise Pascal’s 17th-century Pensees: “The heart has its reasons, which reason does not know.” [16]

Garcia faced some challenges in setting these lyrics to music. The chorus is set to a kind of jaunty march that clashes with the natural rhythm of the words. Notice that the first verse has more lines and comes to a different melodic conclusion than the next two verses. It was also a feat to set, to an identical melody, verses with two completely different rhythms and syllable-counts, which is evident if you speak the lines:

“Right outside this | lazy summer home
You ain’t got time to call your | soul a critic, no”
“There comes a redeemer | and he slowly too fades away
There follows his wagon | behind him that’s loaded with clay”

“Right outside the lazy gate | of winter’s summer home”
“The seeds that were silent all burst into bloom | and decay”

The lyrics have been ridiculed, for instance in Rolling Stone’s original review, where the chorus was quoted: “The lyrics on much of Flood plumb new depths of dull-witted, inbred, blissed-out hippy-dippyness… Jonathan Seagull would blush.” [17]
Hunter has written, “What people can't readily understand in my work has been written off as hippy dippy tripping. ‘Eyes of the World’ is a good example -- a young song about resolution of the subject-object conflict with overtones of Santayana.” [18]

Hunter said in the ‘80s, “‘Eyes of the World’ was quite mystical and, I think, a very right song for the late ‘60s and early ‘70s. Looking back on it now, it’s kind of dated… It’s a song about compassion, as I understand it. Being able to see things from someone else’s point of view. It’s always a right message, but I think it can be overdone. It can be made corny. Of course, there are eternal verities. You can’t avoid those too much if you want to say something.” [19]

For one lyric interpretation, see Eric Wybenga’s book Dead to the Core, p.100-102.
The meaning of the second verse is discussed by Paul Glass in his chapter "Buddhism Through the Eyes of the Dead" in the book "The Grateful Dead and Philosophy: Getting High Minded about Love and Haight." Glass believes that "Eyes" makes reference to one of the "central images of Mahayana Buddhism." Glass interprets Robert Hunter's "redeemer" as a "bodhisattva bringing all sentient beings to nirvana in a great wagon." Glass sees the "seeds" in the verse as "karmic seeds" "extinguishing their karmic debt and ending the cycle of rebirth." [19a]

III. Performance History

From its debut in February 9, 1973, except for a brief period coinciding with the touring hiatus from October ’74 to June of ’76, “Eyes” was played regularly through ‘95. The song was played most frequently in ’73, with a total of 49 performances. According to Dead Base, the following represent the number of times played in each year:

In ’73-’74 “Eyes” was frequently paired with “China Doll,” with a total of 24 performances of Eyes> China Doll. Also in ‘73, “Dark Star transitioned into “Eyes” ten times. [20] Two excellent versions of this transition are November 11, 1973 and December 6, 1973. The November ’73 transition includes a “Mind Left Body jam” between “Dark Star” and “Eyes.” (This has been released on the Winterland ’73: Complete Recordings box set.) The December 6, 1973 performance of “Eyes” at Public Hall, Cleveland, Ohio, follows a 43+ minute “Dark Star” that teases “Wharf Rat” before going into “Eyes.” (This Dark Star> Eyes was released on the Road Trips 2011 bonus disc, out of print now.) [21]
In ’73, “Eyes” more commonly came out of “Truckin’” or “The Other One,” with eleven Other One> Eyes and thirteen Truckin’> Eyes in ’73-74. These pairings would become very rare thereafter, done only a few times in later years. Another common combination in ’73-’76 was Eyes> Stella Blue, which was played 10 times. [22] After ’76, “Eyes” would never again be paired with “China Doll” or “Stella Blue.” [23]
In ’76 and early ’77 the Dead were very flexible in where they placed “Eyes,” but this changed in May ’77. After the debut of “Estimated Prophet” in ’77, Estimated> Eyes was paired 172 times, by far the most common Eyes combo, and the reverse Eyes> Estimated was played 13 times. The Estimated> Eyes> Drums sequence was played 149 times. In 1990 the Dead started becoming more flexible again in “Eyes” placements, and the “Estimated” pairing became rare in the ‘90s.

Garcia talked about the Estimated> Eyes transition in 1988:
"The interesting [transitions] are the ones that have a lot of interim playing possibilities, like 'Estimated Prophet' into 'Eyes of the World' - even though that's one we do a lot. They have an interesting key relationship to each other. You can play an E-major 7th scale against the leading F-sharp minor in 'Estimated Prophet' without changing a note. So it's the same intervals exactly, it's just in different places on the scale. That makes it so you can play through a lot of places. And while we're making that transition we can go from, like, B-minor to C-sharp 7th, to a little E-minor, a little C-major. There are all these possible changes, so that just by changing one or two intervals, all of a sudden they'll work; but sometimes we have to discuss them because they're not all that obvious. It's not obvious what the leading tones are. Also, the rhythmic relationship is very 'off.' So I can find a pulse in there that'll be just a perfect tempo for 'Eyes of the World' regardless of what tempo 'Estimated Prophet' was at, and that makes it interesting for me 'cause it's wide open... If there's a formula that works...we tend to repeat it and do it to death. It depends how many shows you go to - you start to think, 'These guys sure love this transition. They're doing it all the fucking time!'" [23b]

Through the late ‘70s and ‘80s “Eyes” was almost invariably placed in the predrums slot; the Eyes> Drums sequence was played 195 times. Typically the music would trickle out into spacy tinkling to make way for Drums; sometimes in the late ‘70s there would be more full-blown “Spaces” after “Eyes,” and sometimes in the ‘80s there would be little Weir or Brent jams after Garcia left the stage. Starting in 1990, the inevitable transition to Drums became much less common as “Eyes” was more often played earlier in the second set, allowing more varied segues.

“Eyes” was almost always a second set song. “Eyes” was a second set opening song 6 times in the ‘70s (mostly, but not exclusively, pre-hiatus) and 33 times in the ‘90s. Interestingly, in the ‘80s, “Eyes” was never a set opener. The following shows feature a rare first set “Eyes”:
September 8, 1973 – Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum, Uniondale, NY
October 29, 1973 - Kiel Auditorium, St. Louis, Mo.
June 18, 1974 - Freedom Hall, Louisville, Ky
August 6, 1974 - Roosevelt Stadium, Jersey City, N.J.
September 21, 1974 - Palais des Sports, Paris, France
October 19, 1974 - Winterland Arena, San Francisco, Ca.
August 13, 1975 - Great American Music Hall, San Francisco, Ca.

Following the death of Garcia, the song has remained in the regular repertoire of each of the surviving members’ projects, including Ratdog, Phil Lesh & Friends, Mickey Hart Band, Seven Walkers, Rhythm Devils, Furthur, the Other Ones, and The Dead.

IV. Structure

Intro [25]

First Verse/Chorus

First jam

Second Verse/Chorus

Second jam

Third Verse/Chorus

Third Jam

Coda (‘73-‘74)

V. The Coda

In versions played in ’73 through ’74, the third instrumental section would usually conclude with a coda with a different melody, rhythm and tempo. (This coda first appeared in the song’s second performance on February 15, 1973.) Dead scholar David Malvinni describes the coda as featuring “dramatically framed chord changes (accentuated by the bass), and a disorientating pentatonic-based riff in E-flat minor in a 7/8 time signature, phrased as 7+7, yet that ends in 7+6 as the tonality descends by half step to D minor.” [26]
Some have compared this coda to the similar “Stronger Than Dirt” section of "King Solomon’s Mines" from Blues for Allah, but it is a different riff. (On August 13, 1975, an actual “Stronger Than Dirt” follows “Eyes.”) Others have compared the coda to "Slipknot!" Interestingly, on June 20, 1974, the coda segued into an early version of “Slipknot!” and then into "China Doll." https://archive.org/details/gd1974-06-20.sbd.remaster.105427.flac16
"Eyes" also transitioned into "Slipknot!" on October 20, 1974, at the last of the pre-hiatus shows. (“Slipknot!” would make its next appearance almost a year later, on June 17, 1975, sandwiched in its familiar spot between “Help on the Way” [27] and “Franklin’s Tower.”) The “Eyes” coda was dropped after the October 20, 1974 performance.

David Malvinni provides a detailed analysis of the “Eyes” performance on August 1, 1973, at Roosevelt Stadium, Jersey City, NJ. Malvinni argues that the best “Eyes” were performed during ’73 and ’74, in part because of the coda. (See Malvinni, Grateful Dead and the Art of Rock Improvisation.) [26] In the August 1, 1973 version, the coda begins at 16:24. https://archive.org/details/gd1973-08-01.sbd.sirmick.patch-12222.92478.sbeok.flac16
This version, well played from beginning to end, follows a great Dark Star > El Paso, and certainly demonstrates and includes what can be excellent in a ’73 “Eyes.” In the comments at archive.org, it is labeled “one for the ages.”

In addition to dropping the coda, after the hiatus the Dead also dropped the lengthy final instrumental jam sequence with its minor-key chord changes. In the June ’76 versions, most of the jamming takes place before the first verse, with the intro jam generally being about 6 minutes; while in contrast, the outro jam is quite brief or turns immediately into space. Over the next few months, the intro jam shortened again, typically to 2-3 minutes; but the final jam was not expanded again, and never regained its former splendor; instead the Dead generally moved quickly to a transition.

Occasionally “Eyes” would end without a transition to another song, but this was very rare in the '70s. Sometimes in ’76-77 there would still be a separate transitional jam – for instance, on July 17, 1976; September 28, 1976; or December 30, 1977. Sometimes “Eyes” would lead into a lengthy “Space” section, which could be either gentle, or a chaotic freakout – for instance, December 4, 1973; June 30, 1974; September 11, 1974 with Ned Lagin; March 19, 1977; October 29, 1977; January 14, 1978; August 12, 1979; October 25, 1979; November 29, 1979; or September 12, 1981. (Fall ’79 features a few of the noisy meltdowns, which were uncommon after ‘74.) [28]

VI. Tempo Changes

After the hiatus, in addition to losing the coda, the song’s tempo started increasing in June of 1976, [29] until returning to a more languid pace in the spring of 1990 and beyond. (The Dead switched back to the slower tempo in the March 25, 1990 performance.) For a comparison of the different tempos of the song, see the following examples:

Versions in the ‘80s could be well under 10 minutes. In ’86-88 in particular, the average “Eyes” was less than 9 minutes, with some less than 7 minutes long. (October 4, 1987, is perhaps the shortest-ever live version, with Garcia finishing in under 6 minutes, though others come close.)

“Eyes” was played and recorded during rehearsals on May 28-30, 1976, while the Grateful Dead were preparing for the return from hiatus tour which began on June 3, 1976. (Track 9 here is a basic instrumental “Eyes” jam; track 14 is a full vocal take; and track 15 is a mostly instrumental intro jam that cuts off after the first verse.)https://archive.org/details/gd1976-05-28.rehearsals.gems.82947.flac16

Studio -- Wake of the Flood, Grateful Dead Records (released October 15, 1973).
The Very Best of the Grateful Dead, Grateful Dead Productions (released September 16, 2003). Contains the Wake of the Flood Studio version.

9/7/73 -- The remastered Wake of the Flood release (March 7, 2006) and the Beyond Description box set (October 2004) from Rhino include a bonus live version of “Eyes” from September 7, 1973, Nassau Coliseum, Uniondale, NY.

10/19/74 -- The Grateful Dead Movie Soundtrack, Rhino, October 16 – 20, 1974, Winterland, San Francisco, CA (released October 2004). This contains an edited version (13:01) of the “Eyes” played on October 19, 1974. The complete version from that date (18:31) is included on the So Many Roads box set. (A shorter edit was also included in the Grateful Dead Movie, released in 1977.)

10/19/74 -- So Many Roads 1965-1995, Grateful Dead (release date November 7, 1999). This box contains the complete version of “Eyes” from October 19, 1974, which was edited on the Grateful Dead Movie Soundtrack.

8/13/75 -- One from the Vault, Grateful Dead Records, August 13, 1975, Great American Music Hall, San Francisco, CA (release date April 15, 1991).

[1] Dodd, David. "Greatest Story Ever Told: Eyes of the World," Dead.net, May 9, 2013. http://www.dead.net/features/greatest-stories-ever-told/greatest-stories-ever-told-eyes-world
[2] Ibid.
[3] Ibid.
[4] http://deaddisc.com/disc/Eyes_WRS.htm
[5] According to Stephen Peters’ book What A Long Strange Trip (p.130), “Wake of the Flood” was originally to be titled “You Are the Eyes of the World,” but I have not found an original source for this.
[6] Velarde was a Bay Area timbalero, composer and band leader. For more information, see http://www.salsacrazy.com/salsaroots/bennyvelarde.htm
[7] http://www.sputnikmusic.com/forums/archive/index.php/t-264333.html
[8] A good analysis and history of the “Tighten Up Jam” is found at http://deadessays.blogspot.com/2010/01/deads-early-thematic-jams.html
[9] Starting at about 13:25.
[10] Starting at about 6:00.
[11] See “The Dead’s Early Thematic Jams” at The Grateful Dead Guide (January 8, 2010) .
[12] From “Hunter/Garcia Words/Music,” Golden Road, spring 1991 – see Jackson, Goin’ Down the Road, p.227
[13] Adam Block, “Garcia on Garcia,” BAM magazine, December 1977. (They were discussing why songs lasted in the Dead repertoire; Garcia mentioned, “The ones that are longest-lived are the ones that are least specific.”)
[14] It has been decided not to reprint the full lyrics here. In at least one early performance of the song (February 28, 1973, on Dick's Picks Vol 28), in the first line Garcia sings "Right outside this lazy country home." http://whitegum.com/~acsa/introjs.htm?/~acsa/songfile/EYESWORL.HTM
[15] http://www.dead.net/features/greatest-stories-ever-told/greatest-stories-ever-told-eyes-world
[16] http://artsites.ucsc.edu/GDead/agdl/eyes.html
[17] http://www.rollingstone.com/music/albumreviews/wake-of-the-flood-19740103
[18] http://www.hunterarchive.com/files/mailpages/mailbag10.17.96.html (See also Jessica Wahman’s essay “Eyes of the World: Santayana’s Ontology Set to Music” in the book “The Grateful Dead and Philosophy.”)
[19] The source is uncertain. This comes from either Jeff Tamarkin’s “The Greatest Stories Never Told,” Relix, April 1986; or Robert O’Brian’s “Robert Hunter’s Romance of the Rose,” Rockbill, September 1985. (It is quoted in Oliver Trager’s American Book of the Dead, p.117, as being from the “1986 interview with Robert O’Brian for Relix.”)
[19a] Paul Glass, "Buddhism Through the Eyes of the Dead," The Grateful Dead and Philosophy: Getting High Minded about Love and Haight (ed. Steven Gimbel), page 135
[20] This does not include the Dark Star Jam>Eyes of 11/30/73 or the Dark Star>Drums>Eyes of 12/18/73.
[21] The show is also available here: https://archive.org/details/gd1973-12-06.sbd.miller.105560.flac16
[22] Stella Blue> Eyes was played once, on October 30, 1973.
[23] Actually, there was an Eyes>Space>Stella>Franklin’s on January 30, 1978.
[23b] From "Garcia: Listen to the Music Play," Golden Road, fall 1988; see Jackson, Goin' Down the Road p.6-7. In 1990, Phil commented on the possibilities for different transitions: "We haven't really explored a lot of the variables, getting step-wise from one tune to another, in the sense of key and modulation. You change one note in the scale, from, say G-sharp to G-natural in an A scale, and you can go smoothly from 'Eyes of the World' to 'Uncle John's Band.' But usually we don't take the time to do that sort of thing. Usually the tunes are just juxtaposed brutally." (From "We Want Phil!: An Interview," Golden Road, summer 1990; see Jackson, Goin' Down the Road, p.172.) As it turned out, the Dead never did do Eyes>Uncle John's.
[24] Deadbase lists an “Eyes” encore on July 27, 1974 in Roanoke, Va., but this is doubtful and unconfirmed. It is not on tape or reported by witnesses.
[25] The intro was much shortened in the ‘80s, often to just a few bars, to the point where it could no longer be considered a separate section; but expanded again in the ‘90s.
[26] David Malvinni, Grateful Dead and the Art of Rock Improvisation (Scarecrow Press, 2013), p.156
[27] This particular version of “Help,” the first ever performed live, was instrumental. “Help” with lyrics would not debut until August 13, 1975, at the Great Music Hall in San Francisco, CA.
[28] This is just a partial listing of examples. A full catalogue of Eyes>Spaces has yet to be made, where the “Space” is distinct from the usual transition or disintegration into Drums. (It would be a useful list.)
[29] The speed of “Eyes” noticeably increases over the course of several June ’76 performances.
[30] On the 6/10/73 audience tape, during the brief presong tuning, an audience member calls out “Eyes of the World” and the crowd greets the intro warmly – months before it was released on album. This shows what an impression the new song had made after a single east-coast tour.
[31] Forum threads on fan favorites also abound, such as: http://transitiveaxis.forumup.us/viewtopic.php?t=614
[32] As of December 10, 2013. For additional recordings from the Tapers Section, post-GD bands, and cover versions, see: http://whitegum.com/~acsa/introjs.htm?/~acsa/songfile/EYESWORL.HTM and http://deaddisc.com/songs/Eyes_Of_The_World.htm
[33] A note about timings and transitions: Timings are based upon information available at deadlists.net. Where timings were not available at deadlists.net, information was obtained from shows available on archive.org or, where commercially available, from the released information. Timings can vary depending on tape speeds. The symbol (>) traditionally indicates a transition where one song segues into the next. By contrast, the symbol (;) indicates more or less a full stop before the next song begins. Generally (but not in every case), I have utilized the indicator found at deadlists.net. Full suites are generally not listed, only the songs before and after Eyes. When no song is listed before Eyes, it starts the set.

19 comments:

This is a remarkable study of Eyes. A very nice Christmas present. Correct me if I am wrong, but I believe the only Estimated-> Eyes that came to a full stop and didn't segue into Drums or another song is Englishtown 9-3-77.

To pick nits, although the 2/26/73 version is on Dick's Picks, they have patched a segment of it from the 2/22/73 version.

Is Eyes the only Dead song to make its live debut in the second set jam? Seems like every other second set staple they introduced in the 70's (He's Gone, Help-Slip-Franklin, Estimated, Terrrapin, Scarlet-Fire) had some test runs in the first set.

Yes, I believe it is, although of course that's not considering the '60s debuts. Some of the '70s staples like Playin' or Scarlet didn't originate as jam-songs, but drifted into the second sets as they expanded. Eyes is unique for the '70s in starting out as a nearly 20-minute jam-song right from the debut. There are a few reverse cases - Bird Song, Music Never Stopped, or Let It Grow originally could appear in either set, but over time became mostly first-set fixtures even as the jams grew.

By the way, someone should make a list of all the Dick's Picks patches. I know there are quite a few, but I've never seen them all listed together.

Great post. Thank you. A few interesting early 80's Eyes' to note are:

4/3/82 Norfolk Scope. The Scope is/was an enormodome of an arena. The boys were clearly having fun with the acoustics. Out of Estimated, Eyes of the World took on a slow bossa nova feel. Clearly spontaneous and most interesting.

4/17/84 Niagra Falls Civic Center. Great show overall. Long jam post 'Man Smart' that looked like it was heading toward drums. Bobby left the stage. Jerry game him the eye and kept right on. I labelled my tape 'Jerry, Phil, Brent, Billy, Mickey Jam'. Bobby runs back out at first notes of Eyes.

The 'Eyes' from 11 September 1974 in London was particularly impressive. I was there, and was utterly baffled by the 'Seastones' which started the second set, but when Phil and Ned were joined by the rest of the band, things really took off, and when they eventually arrived at 'Eyes' the band seemed to be flying along in great form for ages before slowing down into 'Wharf Rat'. I have an unofficial CD recording of this, indeed of the whole gig, but it's a shame that this sequence wasn't included on Dick's Picks, Volume VII.

As regards the outro portion from the Feb. '73 'Eyes', what is known about how the boys worked it out? For example, in the 2/9/73 version we can hear 'nucleotides' of it floating around in the primordial ether but, as you document, it isn't until 2/15/73 that we get a full, albeit very tentative, treatment; however, on 2/21/73 it is barely hinted at, and in its place is a more formless jam. They must have been discussing it and working it out on the bus/plane, at soundcheck, etc. during this time. Has anyone ever asked the boys about this?

Also, not to be a pedant but, under the commercial releases section, the version from Dicks Picks 17 (Boston '91) is 'filler' from 3/31/91 Greensboro, North Carolina.

I don't recall anyone in the band talking about the post-Eyes jam, though it's possible someone might have asked about it sometime in later years. (Phil would be the most likely to even remember it.) For that matter, any discussion of how they worked out any piece of music is pretty rare.

'For that matter, any discussion of how they worked out any piece of music is pretty rare.'

Interesting, for sure. What would be fun would to have the boys (or one of them, anyway) sit down for an interview in which they are played specific thematic jams ('Tighten Up', etc.) and then really prompted to open up and speak about the origins, etc. of these pieces. Kind of like, but not really, what the jazz pianist Ethan Iverson does with his blindfold listening test on his blog (An example: http://dothemath.typepad.com/dtm/interview-with-wynton-marsalis-part-2.html).

Regarding the outro, what i've picked up from playing along with it a bunch of times, is that after the bass solo which followed the third verse, they would start veering from the E major scale the song is in, which is identical to C# natural minor scale, into C# dorian minor, which simply requires a change of one note, the A to a B flat, go off on that, and on a dime go back to the E major, Then after a couple of back-and-forth transitions like that, go into G# dorian minor, related to E major in that G# is the 3 note in the E major scale, then go into E flat dorian minor in 7/7 which then jumps to D dorian minor in 7/6 and back and forth, finishing with the latter, which then sets up a transition into China Doll, which is in D melodic minor. Timing is everything, everyone has to make the change simultaneously.

Interesting thing re origin is the similarity of Eyes to both What's Going On and Mercy, Mercy Me, both in E major. The Dead did do the former during the rainforest benefit show in Radio City in September '88 with Hall and Oates singing.

David Malvinni's new book "Grateful Dead and the Art of Rock Improvisation" has a section on Eyes where he goes extensively through the chords in the song & jam, p.156-158 - somewhat like you do, though too long to quote here.

In the early '80s, Mickey Hart was asked what had sparked off the Spanish Jam, and had to be reminded that a piece off Miles Davis' Sketches of Spain had been the inspiration: "God! Those things just come out! Those are really not planned. That really comes out when we are jamming. I forgot even where that came from! I didn't even think about that, but you're right, that's where that did come from... I knew I recognized it from someplace!" [Swing 51 #7, 1983] But when Lesh was asked around the same time about the Spanish Jam at the Carousel in '68, he immediately remembered it: "That was our Sketches of Spain take, it was part of our act at the time. I wish we still played like that." [Comstock Lode #9, 1980] On the other hand, when David Gans specifically asked Lesh about the Mind Left Body jam, Lesh dismissed the idea that it was based on anything and said it was "only four chords."

So if you want to hear about the origins of the thematic jams, it depends what bandmember you ask...

Malvinni's book sounds VERY interesting. Thanks! Good to know that i more or less get it.

Makes sense Lesh would have a better idea about Spanish Jam, he listened extensively to Miles Davis in the years before the Dead. The main story is that Bob brought the idea to the band, but Lesh did do a short trumpet "sample" from it (in the days before sampling as we know it) on the album version of Born Cross Eyed.

And likewise, Jerry was the one who brought in Mind Left Body, be its origin in the work with Baron Tollbooth and the Chrome Nun sessions or from listening to McCartney's debut album. There are two different stories regarding the origin of Caution, one tracing it to riding in a car and hearing the opening riff from Them's Mystic Eyes on the radio, which is similar,while he other (from Lesh) being that of riding in the train and being inspired by the sound of the wheels' motion along the rails (hence the title).

Kell -- I am trying to find a bit of arcane history. AT the Pershing Auditorium on 2/2673, one of the very early Eyes, it comes out of Dark Star. It's on DP 28, as another commenter notes here. On that show, there is clearly another drummer on those songs. I have asked around and no one (including David Lemieux) has any idea who it is...do you?

Coming pretty late to this post and comments, but thought I'd mention there's another nice version from '91 with hornsby on piano and welnick on keyboard that has some sweet moments and is available in a pretty good YouTube video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bV4t1kRWb3w -- for me the magic takes off in the final minutes, and it's cool to see Jerry and Bruce smiling at each other as they jam.